learning stop motion animation

because this, I have decided to learn some stop motion animation for a cut scene in a future youtube video.  

The segment would be about 10 seconds long.  

How hard can it be?  

Given that I have absolutely no idea how to do this, I'm thinking pretty hard?  Or easy?  Or both?  Or....?  Is 10 seconds too long for a first attempt?  

Basically, I need somewhere to gather up resources as I find them and ask questions and stuff.  Anyone out there done this before?

Hi R,
I have a fairly smart kid who was 9 at the time. He took a cheap digital camera and made a lego stop motion video himself. It took him several hours for like a 30 second clip, but it came out pretty good. When you say animation, I don't know if you mean, pictures that are drawn and redrawn? or inanimate objects being move around? Or clay figures? Regardless, I imagine it would be time consuming, but not too difficult. Really its just take a picture, move something, take another picture, and repeat a whole lot of times :)

Yaaay!! Stop motion is all about the patience but its a very rewarding and fun process too.

Whats most important imo is to follow general animation principles, highly recommend this book:Animator’s Survival Kit

This video is also very helpful!


Some tips:

Depending on the complexity of the shot 10 seconds can be done quickly or it can take a long time :)

Technically wise having the camera completely locked is key to avoid any stabilization in post or if there will be a camera movement there are some fancy programable sliders. A good tripod is key! And an external shooter too (connecting it to a computer also usually works), touching the camera even a little bit or to press the shutter can move it slightly and mess up the shot.

Planning the precise movements before hand is also a great idea.

Being aware of the lighting is also important as this can take a long time and shifts in it can be too distracting.

Ive always used this program: https://www.dragonframe.com/ its really good and allows you to onion skin (preview the before pics with lower opacities to see the animation as its done)

Hope this animation goes wonderful!!

First draft

It's pretty much how I plan if I'm filming the sequence.

As you can see, I cannot draw, thus the interest in stop motion animation

This channels stop motion is incredibly





Add the sound design and it's difficult to see it's stop motion.   The sound tricks the brain to see it smoother.

I did this years ago with students when I was teaching a computer class. I bought special software, kids had to write and plan their skit and then take the pics and put it together using the software. They really enjoyed it since it was a lot of fun.

When I was a kid in the 60s, we use to take a small pad of paper and do animation that way.

I'm guessing consistent focus is important.  

Using an automatic lens is tricky, even on manual.  What about my manual focus lens?

What is it?

A useful overview of things to think about.

A simple way to import the pictures into a davinci resolve timeline as a video.  Note, the files must be named sequentially for this one to work

first attempt

Just wanna say, I worked in the film industry for years and when I was in film school I had a backburner interest in animation, and made a few short stop motion films, and titles sequences. It's a lot of fun but a ton of work. I'm sure there is no end to learning resources available and that you will quickly find them. Best of luck!

While we're recommending stop motion stuff to watch, check out the work of The Brothers Quay. Also check out this: https://youtu.be/wqp71DOJ3aY?si=7dFOfwMsLh3zgIPD